Our entrance into the movement began in 1996 on the California Polytechnic University campus, when Argentinian Alex Pryor first introduced yerba mate to Californian David Karr. Fast friends and ultimately 'soul brothers,’ the pair quickly realized there was a need for a nourishing source of energy, and a business model that could benefit the planet. Now, over 25 years later, we are sharing yerba mate loose leaf, cans, and bottles in North and South America with the same regenerative vision that the founders initially started with.
Guayakí Yerba Mate aligns with what we call Market Driven Regeneration™ as an aspirational business model. We utilize the Sustainable Development Goals framework defined by the United Nations to help guide aspects of our business and to support our community of stakeholders, which include customers, employees, and the Indigenous and smallholder producers we partner with in South America.
In 2022, we partnered with Impakt IQ to conduct a third-party materiality assessment of our Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) issues according to industry standards. These include the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and the Task Force for Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), and the newly formed International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) which seeks to align global sustainability standards and reporting. This dual materiality assessment identified and ranked the issues most material to our business as well as our stakeholders and will be incorporated into our Impact and Regeneration strategy.
At Guayakí Yerba Mate, we have committed to certifications that reflect our purpose and work with external certifying bodies who are as deeply committed to their respective values, beliefs, and standards. We believe external validation of our business practices is the best way to achieve our purpose and have been early adopters of some of the core certifications we continue to hold today.